Wild Blue Asters - My Vision

I found this patch of wild asters near the top of Mill Creek Canyon (near Salt Lake City, Utah USA) a few weeks ago. This was an early evening exposure, with very little post-processing. The exposure has a +5/3 EV bias (one of several exposures for later HDR processing). I like it just the way it was, so I left it as is -- without the HDR post-processing. (Click on image for a larger view.)

These flowers are normally a more purple color, but the early evening light changed the color to more of a blue shade. Normally, I would have changed my white balance on my camera to 6500 degrees Kelvin to compensate for the cooler light, or warmed up the image in post-processing. But again. I like it this way.

I hate fussing with things when there's no need, don't you? Simple can be best.

BTW, I used the widest aperture my 17mm-85mm lens had, and let the camera set the shutter speed (Aperture Priority). Manually focusing on two blossoms, I let the other flowers blur. I increased the camera's ISO setting (to 640) until I had a shutter speed of 1/25 of a second -- about the slowest I dare use for a hand-held shot, using my len's built in image stabilization feature. I could have put the camera on a tripod, but the wind was blowing enough to blur flowers taken at slower speeds.

You can also view my Flickr Photostream to see more of "My Vision."

Wildflowers in Albion Basin, Utah - My Vision

I photographed these high-mountain meadows (at about 9,500 feet) of wildflowers early this morning with my new iPhone 3Gs! The new iPhone is a great little 3MP camera, wire-less phone, and is my mobile connection to the Internet (my 21MP Canon 5D Mark II images will follow when I get time to process them ;-). The red flowers are Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja rhexifolia), and the prominent yellow flower you see in the picture below is called the "Little Sunflower" (Helianthella uniflora).

This meadow is in Albion Basin of the Wasatch-Cache National Forest, in Utah (Albion Basin is situated just above the Alta and Snowbird ski resorts, in the Wasatch Mountains).


We've had a lot of rain this spring, and this has been an unusually lush and verdant summer for wildflowers in the high mountains. I can't wait to get up there again. The temperatures are a cool 65 degrees (F.) in the shade, and about 80 degrees in the sun -- perfect weather!

By the way, one of the reasons people love Salt Lake City, is because of areas like this: "...one of Salt Lake City’s recreational havens, a multi-seasonal destination offering some of the best skiing, hiking, bike riding, tram rides, camping, and wildlife viewing in Utah – all within 15 miles of the city center." (Source: U.S. Forest Service Web site.)

You can also view my Flickr Photostream to see more of "My Vision."